Today at 12: 20 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 8: 33 a.m. EDT
Today at 12: 20 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 8: 33 a.m. EDT
A top adviser to Ukraine’s president insisted that battered port city Mariupol “is holding on” despite a Russia-imposed deadline for fighters to surrender or face a bitter end. “Fighting is underway in the vicinity of the Azovstal plant,” Oleksiy Arestovych said Wednesday as the 2 p.m. local time (7 a.m. Eastern) deadline passed, referring to the massive steel plant where Ukrainian forces and civilians are holing up. A commander there told The Washington Post a day earlier: “We will not lay down our weapons,” and warned that his troops “may be facing our last days, if not hours.”
Moscow has sought to capture the strategically important city for weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation in Mariupol remains “severe,” and officials said evacuations would be attempted Wednesday through an agreed-upon humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly. More than 5 million refugees have now fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, arrived in Kyiv, the latest European official to visit the country. President Biden is set to announce around $800 million in additional military aid for Ukraine in the coming days, an official familiar with the decision said. Ukraine is also receiving fighter aircraft from multiple nations, according to the Pentagon.
As Russia renews its campaign to take eastern Ukraine, Western strategists said Ukrainians appeared to be launching local “spoiling attacks” in hopes of disrupting the Kremlin’s broader assault. Fighting is underway in Kharkiv and Donetsk, officials said, while the governor of Luhansk warned that the situation there “is getting worse every hour,” as he called on residents to evacuate.
Here’s what to know
- Washington is hosting a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers on Wednesday that could offer a rare opportunity for Ukrainian officials to confront their Russian counterparts directly.
- Russian forces are gathering around Izyum, a gateway city to the Donbas region, raising concerns it could suffer the same fate as Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were killed in a Russian campaign of violence and torture.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency said direct communication with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was restored late Tuesday.
- The Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates.
U.N.: More than 5 million people have now fled Ukraine
More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, according to the latest data published by the U.N. refugee agency, amid what the United Nations and aid groups describe as the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
The greatest exodus came during March, when an estimated 3.3 million Ukrainians — including those with dual citizenship — fled the conflict. Many more have remained in the country but have had to move to other areas because of heavy fighting.
“We’ve seen about a quarter of Ukraine’s population, more than 12 million people in total, have been forced to flee their homes,” Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told the Associated Press. “This is a staggering amount of people.”
More than 2.8 million refugees have fled to Poland, according to the data, while many have sought safety in other neighboring countries such as Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.
The United Nations estimates that an additional 105,000 people living in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions moved to Russia between Feb. 18 and 23, the days leading up to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The exodus has raised fears of human trafficking. Gillian Triggs, UNHCR’s assistant chief for protection, called on countries to “prevent predatory individuals and criminal networks from exploiting the situation.”
Family of British fighter in Ukraine trying to secure his release
LONDON — The family of a British man who appeared to be captured while fighting in Ukraine described footage of him on Russian television as “deeply distressing” and said it was trying to secure his release.
“He is not, contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, a volunteer, a mercenary, or a spy,” read a statement from the family of Aiden Aslin that was shared with The Washington Post on Wednesday. It said Aslin joined the Ukrainian marines after moving in 2018 to the country, where he settled in the southern city of Mykolaiv and later got engaged to his girlfriend.
The British national was part of the resistance to Russian advances in Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol before he told an American friend that his commander was planning to surrender the unit, The Post previously reported. Russian forces have cornered Ukrainian fighters in a sprawling steel plant after an assault that pummeled the southern city and a siege that cut off vital supplies.
Apparent interview footage of him later emerged, including on a Russian talk show. A photo circulating online showed Aslin in handcuffs. In one video, he and another British man who fought in Ukraine appealed to be freed as part of a potential prisoner swap. It was unclear how freely they were speaking, appearing to be prompted at points by an unidentified man.
Aslin’s family members described him as speaking under duress “and having clearly suffered physical injuries” and said they were in contact with the British Foreign Office to “ensure the Russian authorities meet their obligations to prisoners of war under international law.” Robert Jenrick, a British lawmaker for Nottinghamshire, said he was working with Aslin’s family, his constituents, to “ensure his swift and safe release.”
Russia vows new push for eastern Ukraine
RIGA, Latvia — Russia declared the start of an intensified campaign for eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, focusing heavy firepower on areas key to cementing control of the country’s industrial heartland.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin, more than seven weeks into its war in Ukraine, had entered a new stage of the invasion and would seek the “complete liberation” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, potentially bringing areas where Russian-backed separatists have waged a long war firmly within Moscow’s grip. U.S. officials cautioned that Moscow may have yet to unleash its full military might on Ukraine’s east.
“The next phase of this special operation begins now,” Lavrov said in an interview with India Today television. “This will be an important moment during this special operation.”
Netflix loses 200,000 subscribers after Ukraine-linked Russia pullout
For the first time in a decade, Netflix said Tuesday that it lost more paying customers than it added after a net drop of 200,000 subscribers it attributed to its pullout from Russia.
Even though revenue grew, the announcement pushed its stock price down by more than 20 percent in after-hours trading. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix attributed the net loss in the January-March period to its decision last month to suspend services in Russia to protest the Kremlin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
It lost 700,000 viewers in Russia, although it added 500,000 viewers elsewhere globally.
The drop comes amid a larger trend of shrinking viewership, with the streaming service projecting that it will lose a further 2 million subscribers in the next three-month quarter ending in June.
Kremlin calls any ban on Russian tennis players at Wimbledon ‘unacceptable’
LONDON — Any ban on Russian players from the British tennis tournament at Wimbledon this summer will hurt the sport and be unacceptable, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after reports of a possible ban.
“The Kremlin considers the removal of Russian athletes from Wimbledon unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday. “They are again being made the hostages of political intrigues,” he added, referring to the players.
The Russian reaction follows reports that the All England Club, which hosts the annual major tournament in a leafy area of southwest London, could ban players from Russia over the war in Ukraine. News of the apparent ban was first reported by the Sportico website. The All England Club did not reply to requests for comment from The Washington Post.
In March, the club issued a statement with other global tennis bodies declaring its “deep sense of distress, shock and sadness,” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We commend the many tennis players who have spoken out and taken action against this unacceptable act of aggression. We echo their calls for the violence to end and peace to return.”
Any ruling would affect stars such as the world No. 2 men’s player, Daniil Medvedev, and fellow Russian Andrey Rublev, who went viral online in February for writing “No War Please” on a television camera moments after a victory in Dubai.
It’s unclear whether players from Belarus, which has supported Russia’s invasion, will also be affected if a ban is imposed. In March, the International Tennis Federation’s board voted to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian tennis federations.
Russia has faced boycotts in other sports, including soccer, ice hockey and auto racing, since its invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.
The grass court tournament at Wimbledon, whose royal patron is Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, is set to begin on June 27. Novak Djokovic won the men’s final last year, and recently retired Ashleigh Barty took home the women’s trophy.
Annabelle Chapman and Amar Nadhir contributed to this report.
One body at a time, a Kyiv coroner documents Ukraine’s death toll
KYIV, Ukraine — One body has been haunting the coroner. She was shot through the face with a high-caliber bullet through a car windshield. Then a Russian armored vehicle ran over the car, crushing her rib cage like a soda can and tearing off what was left of her head.
Volunteers peeled her body out, zipped her into a black plastic bag and laid her in the trailer of a refrigerated 18-wheeler. She rode an hour through Kyiv’s suburbs before being removed carefully from the bag and laid on coroner Vlad Perovskyi’s metal autopsy table.
The gunshot that killed her disturbs him less than the way her body was treated later.
“I’m used to seeing horrible things done to bodies,” Perovskyi says. “But I was very shocked to see such horrible treatment of the deceased by the Russians. How can someone shoot a person and then run over the body? Or throw them into ditches. How can someone put a bullet into a dead man’s head?”
European Council president Charles Michel visits Ukraine: ‘History will not forget’
European Council President Charles Michel arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv Wednesday, calling it the “heart of a free and democratic Europe.” Michel is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Michel also headed to the town of Borodyanka, a town 30 miles northwest of Kyiv. “History will not forget the war crimes that have been committed here,” Michel tweeted as he compared the devastated area to that of Bucha, where the discovery of mass graves and bound corpses angered the world and sparked calls for a global investigation into the war crimes, and “many other towns” across the country attacked by Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said earlier this month that the situation in Borodyanka, appeared “significantly more dreadful” than in nearby Bucha.
According to Michel’s weekly schedule, the purpose of his trip to Kyiv was for “official meetings” amid Russia’s bombardment of the country — although it was not immediately clear how long the trip would last.
Several high-profile European officials and leaders have visited Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Czech, Polish and Slovenian prime ministers have also made the trip, aimed at showing solidarity on the world stage.
Ukraine has applied for European Union membership — and von der Leyen has promised a speedy response, although even if Ukraine gains candidate status, formally joining is a long process.
Luhansk governor warns situation is ‘getting more complicated every hour’
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, said Wednesday that several cities in the east have come under Russian attack in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
“The enemy continues its attacks in order to advance deep into Popasna,” Haidai warned. Popasna, a city between Luhansk and Donetsk, has witnessed some of the country’s heaviest fighting.
Haidai said the situation was “getting more complicated every hour” and called on residents to evacuate, adding that the area is rapidly running out of medicine and food. “Protect yourselves — go to evacuation transport and leave,” Haidai wrote on Telegram. He listed locations where civilians could board buses to safety.
He accused Russian forces of shelling residential areas but also said several enemy attacks have been repelled.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it is continuing what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s east and southeast, including missile strikes in Novovorontsovka in the Kherson region.
Finland’s Parliament debates NATO membership, defying Russia
Finland’s Parliament began a historic debate Wednesday on whether the Nordic country should join NATO. As it did so, Russia issued another terse warning to Helsinki about joining the military alliance it sees as anti-Russian.
Some 200 lawmakers in Finland’s Eduskunta will conduct a five-hour debate on Wednesday, Swedish media reported. However, any final decision from Finland would require ratification by all 30 NATO members.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused NATO and the United States on Wednesday of pushing Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. She said Moscow has issued warnings both publicly and through bilateral channels, so neither country should be “surprised” about possible consequences from Russia, she told Russian reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited a purported threat from NATO expansion as a rationale for his invasion of Ukraine. Adding Finland and Sweden to NATO would redraw Northern Europe’s security map, bringing the alliance’s border to the 800-mile Finnish-Russian frontier.
Last week, Russia said it would consider reinforcing the Baltic Sea region, including with nuclear weapons, if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, after Finland’s prime minister suggested the country could make a membership request “within weeks” and Sweden mulled a similar move. Both countries are officially nonaligned militarily, but they are reconsidering their status in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A growing majority of Swedes favor joining NATO, an opinion poll showed Wednesday, according to Reuters. The poll found that 57 percent of Swedes support joining NATO, an increase from 51 percent in March.
U.K. expects little Russian air activity in northern Ukraine
British defense officials say Russian air activity in northern Ukraine is “likely to remain low” after the Kremlin abandoned its bid to seize Kyiv and turned its focus to the country’s south and east.
However, “there is still a risk of precision strikes against priority targets throughout Ukraine,” the British Defense Ministry said in a Wednesday morning intelligence update.
The Pentagon said Monday that Russia is learning from mistakes made during its frustrated assault on the north, and is increasing air support to bolster its heavy artillery and troops.
Russia’s military presence on its eastern border with Ukraine continues to build, the ministry said. Fighting in the Donbas region is also intensifying “as Russian forces seek to break through Ukrainian defenses.”
Evacuation efforts focused on Mariupol, Ukraine says
Ukrainian officials said Wednesday they would try to evacuate people from Mariupol, where encircled fighters are making a last stand after Russian forces advanced on the devastated port city.
Russian troops pushed into the city over several weeks with a crippling siege, and while many civilians were evacuated, Ukrainian officials have estimated that nearly 100,000 people remain inside. Thousands who managed to flee recounted being trapped in basements with little food or water, while contacting those left behind grew difficult.
“It is in this direction that we will focus our efforts today,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said early Wednesday on Telegram. “We managed to agree in advance on a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly.”
She said that after people gather in the afternoon, the convoy would move along a corridor from Mariupol northwest to Zaporizhzhia. “Due to the very difficult security situation, changes may occur during the corridor,” Vereshchuk added. “We will do our best to make everything work properly.”
Street fighting and shelling thwarted several attempts at shuttling people out of Mariupol and prevented a Red Cross team from reaching the city to help evacuate civilians this month. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, said early Wednesday that authorities hoped up to 6,000 people could leave the southern city on the Sea of Azov in 90 buses, but he added that the plan was preliminary.
Holding out in the city’s Azovstal steel plant, the commander of Ukrainian forces in their last foothold in Mariupol told The Washington Post on Tuesday that his fighters did not believe Russian promises of safe passage if they surrender, and he vowed to keep fighting. He said hundreds of civilians also sheltered inside the industrial facility, where Ukrainian forces, including from the Azov Battalion, were outnumbered under a barrage of fire.
Annabelle Chapman and Amar Nadhir contributed to this report.
Russia turns over 76 Ukrainians in prisoner exchange
Russia has turned over 76 Ukrainians — 16 civilians and 60 soldiers, 10 of whom were officers — in a prisoner exchange, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement Tuesday. This was the fifth such swap between the sides, she added, without mentioning how many Russians were turned over in return.
NATO launches cyber drills as war in Ukraine heightens threat
Dozens of countries are participating in a multiday NATO cyberdefense exercise, as the Russian invasion potentially raises the threat of Kremlin attacks against critical infrastructure in countries seen as supporting Ukraine’s war efforts.
The annual cyber war games started Tuesday and were organized out of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia — which faced a blistering digital attack in 2007 that shut down government and financial websites for days in an apparent Kremlin response to the removal of a Soviet-era statue in the country’s capital. It was the first known example of a major nation-on-nation cyberattack. The Kremlin denied responsibility for the attack.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who was Estonia’s president at the time, told The Washington Post in an interview that Russia could turn to disruptive or even destructive cyberattacks to alter the course of the conflict in Ukraine. “If things go badly for Russia, I think they’ll pull out all the stops,” he said.
Government websites in Ukraine were attacked in January as Russian troops gathered on the border in the lead-up to February’s invasion. Official websites in Finland were attacked earlier this month as its government discussed joining the NATO military alliance.
The annual exercises test the response of countries’ cyberdefense teams with fictional cyberattacks, often based on real-life examples. This year’s drills are based around a fictional island country, Berylia, that is experiencing a deteriorating security situation. The exercise’s planners said they drew on the “current geopolitical situation” to develop realistic scenarios of cyberattacks that could take place as part of a broader geopolitical strategy — such as coordinated attacks on military and civilian IT systems.
More than 2,000 people from 32 countries are taking part, including team members from Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.
NATO’s cyberdefense hub did not detail the exact nature of the simulated attacks, but examples of critical infrastructure include assets such as power plants, air defense systems, financial systems and government websites.
Russian tycoon denounces war, calls on West to give Putin dignified exit
A Russian entrepreneur has delivered a stinging rebuke of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it an insane war that he said 90 percent of his countrymen don’t support.
Oleg Tinkov, the founder of Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, also made a plea to the West to offer Russian President Vladimir Putin a pathway to withdraw and put an end to the bloodshed.
On his Instagram account Tuesday, he wrote: “I do not see ANY beneficiary of this insane war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying.”
Tinkov is among the members of the Russian elite sanctioned by the West after the Russian assault on Ukraine. The subsequent economic slump led to a sharp decrease in the share price of his previously high-flying digital bank, wiping billions from his fortune, according to Forbes. He has denied having close connections to Putin, Reuters reported.
Several other Russian billionaires have publicly called for peace, but most have shied away from directly criticizing the invasion, which Putin has described as a “special military operation.”
“Of course there are morons who draw Z, but 10% of any country are morons. 90% of Russians are AGAINST this war!” Tinkov wrote Tuesday. The letter Z has become a symbol of support
